Trump: ‘We Want To Follow the Laws,’ But There Are ‘Great People’ In Country Illegally, and There ‘Can Be a Softening’ of Law

August 23, 2016

During an interview aired on Tuesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stated that when it comes to deporting people in the country illegally, “We want to follow the laws.” But “we’ve got some great people in this country. They shouldn’t be here. they’re still great people, right?” And there “certainly can be a softening” of the law when it comes to some people in the country illegally.

Trump responded to a question on his position on deporting people in the country illegally with, [relevant exchange begins around 6:15] “We want to follow the laws. You know, we have very strong laws. We have very strong laws in this country, and I don’t know if you know, but Bush and even Obama sends people back. Now, we with can be more aggressive in that, but we want to follow the laws. If you start going around trying to make new laws in this country, it’s a process that’s brutal. We want to follow the laws of the country, and if we follow the laws, we can do what we have to do, but, Sean, let me tell you, because it’s so important, we’ve got some great people in this country. They shouldn’t be here. they’re still great people, right? But we’ve got some really, really bad gang members and some horrible people. Those people are going out day one. they’re going to be the first order I sign. They’re going out day one.”

He was then asked, “What about people that work hard, have been here a long time? They own homes. They have their property, and this is a question everyone’s going to want answered. What about them? Do they have to go back, or would you reconsider that?”

He responded, “We are going to follow the laws of the country, Sean. … And we’re going to see who people are. We’re going to see how they’ve done. Do you believe in a merit system, Sean? When people come in as an example, do you believe in a merit system? One of the things that’s very unfair with leaving people is that you have years and years of people waiting on line. They’ve gone through a process, and they’ve filed legally, they’ve filed, and they’re great people, in some cases. I guess in some cases, maybe not. But you have really great people wanting, and so proudly want to come into our country, and now what you’d be doing is you’d take people away from that line.”

Trump was also asked, “Is there any part of the law that you might be able to change that would accommodate those people that contribute to society, have been law-abiding, have kids here?”

He answered, “[T]here certainly can be a softening, because we’re not looking to hurt people. We want people — we have some great people in this country. We have some great, great people in this country, but we’re going to follow the laws of this country. What people don’t realize, we have very, very strong laws.”